Except there’s one caveat. When employers say they want to “get to know the real you,” they filter everything they see through their assumptions of what it takes to succeed professionally. And your oddly obsessive interest in cats is probably not what they’re looking for to gauge your potential for career success.

How do we know exactly what employers want see when Googling candidates?

My colleagues at The University of Texas at Austin and I asked several employers: What are you looking for online? What would make you more likely to interview or hire someone? Less likely? Here’s what we discovered

A Likeable Personality

Employers want people who are confident and professional online, yet not arrogant. Good employees will communicate in a way that shows they are stable, friendly, curious, creative and reliable. Unsurprisingly, employers want to hire candidates they think will work well with others.

Appropriate Endorsements

Employers use your recommendations and connections to gauge your proficiency and trustworthiness. Specifically, glowing recommendations and connections to people employers know and trust increase the chances of an interview or offer. Conversely, employers said that being connected to “inappropriate networks” doomed candidates. (That’s right — employers used the word “doomed.”)

A Consistent Public Persona

Employers said they wanted to see “a consistent, professional presentation that cuts across social media.” They want to see you’ve taken time to think about your online presence. Employers interpret inconsistencies between your offline and online presence as potential deception.

The Right Kind of Private Life

Employers were more likely to interview and hire those who had clear lines between their personal and professional lives. They valued people who had “acceptable… professional interests.” All passions are not created equal, however. If your Instagram photos display your interest in wine or cooking, you show maturity and curiosity in the world around you. Pictures of your beer pong championship or Pokémon card collection? Yeah, not so much.

Alignment of Values

The employers we interviewed wanted workers whose values align with both their own personal values – and the values of their organization. Some disqualified candidates that had “pictures depicting a polarizing point of view.” Others disqualified candidates for expressing spirituality “too strongly.” In general, people who showed respect for their work, life and relationships did better than those who complained frequently.

Now after reading that list you may be thinking: “What a great way to recreate myself as a corporate drone and have no personal life!” Or perhaps all of the above makes perfect sense, but you just don’t have a personal PR team to help you manage your online image. You may also have genuine concerns that all this cybervetting stuff by employers could verge on illegal discrimination. (and you’re right.. it can!)

Yet there are strategies that can help you meet employers’ expectations.

And you can do that without necessarily giving up friendships, social support, recreation and all the rest-of-life stuff you do online. Here’s some tips to help get you started:

Get Advice and Feedback

Talk with people who know you well and people who know the industry or occupation well. Ask friends what three words come to mind when they evaluate your online image. Feedback can help you understand how your online identity could affect your career and the rest of your life.

Curate Accordingly

Decide how much you want to curate your online information to match who you are and want to be. Then do it. Assuming that you aren’t entering a spy-training program, having some information online is generally better than nothing. Manage privacy settings, check Google and Bing, update your profile photo and share your expertise in relevant online communities.

And of course, consider not doing certain things online (or keeping them as private as possible.) Is sharing your Farmville progress or Words With Friends score doing much to help your image as you’re hunting for a job?

Ultimately, meeting the expectations of employers, and giving them what they want to see when they Google you, isn’t as hard as it seems. Decide who you want to be, what you value most, and how you want to be perceived. Then act in a way consistent with what you value, online… and off.

About the Author: Brenda L. Berkelaar is an author, teacher and researcher at The University of Texas at Austin Moody College of Communication. Her work helps people navigate and thrive in contemporary careers and life in the digital age.

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